What I use
Everyday Carry
- Samsung S24, read more here.
- Earbuds, not 100% happy with my current choices.
- Bellroy Card Slip. I rarely need cash in SG so I like slim wallets.
- Garmin Forerunner 165. The main reason I wear it is for fitness tracking (steps, heart rate, running). A small side benefit is that looking at a watch for the time or notifications is slightly faster and more discreet than taking out a phone.
Desktop Setup
I splurged on my current PC in 2020. It’s still enough to handle everything I need.
Software
- Daily driving CachyOS
- Niri, a scrolling window manager
- Noctalia, a Wayland desktop shell
- Dual boot Windows for games with anti-cheat
Keyboard
Yunzii AL66. Great value for money budget mechanical keyboard. I like smaller keyboards (60% - 75%) since the extra keys are rarely used. The linear switch is also relatively quiet.
Mouse
Logitech G502 X Lightspeed. I don’t think there is a reason to use wired mice anymore. The latency difference is negligible and being able to move your mouse freely without the wire getting stuck somewhere is great. I also use a Powerplay wireless charging mousepad so that I don’t have to worry about forgetting to charge it and running out of battery.
Desk & chair
I have been using my Omnidesk since 2020. Have no issues with it but in hindsight there are probably more cost effective options. I like switching between sitting and standing so having an adjustable height is important for me.
Laptop
HP Envy 14: Intel i7-1165G7, Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, 16GB ram.
I bought it because it was on sale. The most important qualities in a Laptop to me are a good screen, high build quality, and long battery life.
Software
I run the same CachyOS and Niri environment as my desktop.
Mouse
MX Master 3S. It’s a classic. The build quality is great and the battery lasts forever.
Tablet
I have a iPad (10th generation) for media consumption and notetaking. The portability and battery life makes it much easier to use than a laptop for simple tasks. However, I find iOS restricting and would switch to an android tablet when the iPad stops working.
I use a Logitech Combo Touch keyboard case and Goojodoq stylus. The official Apple accessories are overpriced, but having a keyboard and pencil makes typing/writing much easier.
Self hosting
Home server
I converted my old PC into a headless Ubuntu server. I run a few services:
- Jellyfin (Movies & TV shows)
- Calibre (e-books)
- Immich (Google Photos alternative)
- Nextcloud (Google Workspace alternative)
Pi-hole
I run Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi 4 and a secondary instance on my home server. I also use it to setup local DNS records so that I don’t have to remember IP addresses.
WireGuard
When I need to access my self-hosted services over the internet, I use WireGuard so that I don’t have to open ports in my network. It also allows me to use my Pi-hole without being at home.
Software
Browser
Zen Browser is a fork of Firefox with additional features and enhanced privacy. The UI is the main selling point for me. I really like the floating URL bar and hiding the tabs so webpages gets the entire screen space. At the same time, Firefox’s Picture-in-Picture is way better than chromium browsers, actually being able to show closed captions. An ad blocker is basically a mandatory extension. I use uBlock Origin.
On mobile, I use Brave Browser for its built-in ad blocking and privacy features.
Proton Services
Proton Pass
The biggest selling point of Proton Pass is email aliases. Proton owns SimpleLogin so the same subscription gives access to both, and the services are tightly integrated. When creating a login, you can create an aliases directly in Proton Pass.
Proton Mail
It supports custom email addresses with custom domain. Proton is also less likely to look at your data compared to Google.
Google Services
The Google services that I still use are Search, Calendar, and Maps. These services integrate closely with each other, and its hard to replicate the same experience with other services.